The American Spectator

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.8.10 @ 12:05PM

Driving home from a superbowl party, I found myself saddened that either team had to lose.

Folks there was some FOOTBALL played last night, on both sides of the ball.

I don't remember hitting like that in any Superbowl I've seen.
My highest regards to both teams, and the names we shall never remember.

Wlady Pleszczynski| 2.8.10 @ 12:32PM

Phil, this loss can't be pinned on Manning or on his tendency to fall short. He did what he could in the limited time he was out there. If anything, one can blame the Indy loss on the Jets and their lousy offense, which the Colts easily stopped in the AFC championship game, no less so that Baltimore's anemic attack a week earlier. Neither game prepared the Colts' defense for what Brees would throw at them (literally, as they). Once Garcon dropped the key third down pass (thrown perfectly by Manning), momentum shifted, the Saints' offense came to life, from then on it was a Drew Brees clinic. Manning did what he could to keep his guys in the game -- until that Neil O'Donnell to Larry Brown like interception, but by then the writing was on the wall: Indy had been outcoached, outfoxed, outcompeted. New Orleans never stopped competing all year. Indy, as we know, did, and it caught up with them. Always play to win, regardless. No blaming Manning here. He had wanted to go for a perfect season, but was overruled. Perhaps if he'd resisted, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Albert A. Turner| 2.8.10 @ 12:35PM

Glad to see the Saints win. I've been a fan since the 63 yard field goal. As far as Mr. Manning goes, he is a very good qb and has played in some tough games and has come up short a few times. Montana won four. He's the best until someone wins five.

Steven Shaver| 2.10.10 @ 12:00PM

Mr. Turner: Someone else already won five. His name is Bart Starr and he led his Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships in seven seasons during the 1960's. Oh, and he also owns the highest quarterback rating for the post season in NFL history.

Pete| 2.8.10 @ 12:42PM

Bradshaw won four as well...

I don't think you can pin that one on Manning either, and I think the Garcon drop was the biggest play in the game. That play would have gone for a long way, resulting in 3 or 7 on the drive for sure. Not getting a big lead there allowed the Saints to stay within themselves and throw short passes underneath - not risk INTs going deep.

The INT was more Wayne's fault than Peyton's, but Peyton still should never have thrown that ball. Then Wayne dropped the 4th down TD pass that would have at least given us an exciting finish.

I would love to hear from the Saint who recovered the onsides kick. That ball was between his legs and a Colt had his hands on it...must have been some biting and scratching going on down in that pile.

Albert A. Turner| 2.8.10 @ 1:10PM

Yes, I forgot he did, too. I'd still take Montana.

Kimberman| 2.9.10 @ 9:35AM

Bart Star

JohnD| 2.8.10 @ 12:51PM

As a proud Baltimorean, all I can say is that Johnny Unitas would never have cracked under the pressure and thrown a pick 6 to lose an NFL title game. He would have hung in there, threaded the needle and took the hit.

This should put to rest the "who was better" talk about comparing Manning to Unitas. Unitas played for the real Colts, not the frauds that play in a city that has nothing to do with horse racing and had to steal another city's football history along with their NFL franchise.

Here we have more pride in our town and history than to go around saying Jim Brown was the greatest Baltimore Ravens running back ever.

Unitas - 3 NFL titles (1958, 1959, 1971, 3-0 in NFL title games he started)

Manning - 1 NFL title, and one supreme choke to lose another.

A curse on Indy and their football team; many more painful and ingnominius defeats.

Congrats to New Orleans. As they say, "that was more better than good."

GG| 2.8.10 @ 1:28PM

Pete, thanks for mentioning Terry B. Montana's obviously got the chops, but during one of his most vaunted drives (the winning TD series in Supe 23 against the Bengals), the defense practically laid down and let him win. Terry B matured from a gunslinger, loose cannon, you name it, to a running-game manager to a crafty field general who used two HoF receivers to perfection. But one thing just about everyone seems to forget (or is too young to remember): Bradshaw called his own plays. That degree of responsibility is something I don't think any QB from the Class of 83 onward had. Bradshaw is a perennial Top 10 QB, if not a perennial Top 5. Four titles in six years ... you don't get that by flaking with a pick 6. In Supe 10, he threw the winning TD with Larry Coles knocking him unconscious. In Supe 13, Bradshaw overcame a strip-sack that gave Dallas a 7-0 lead and kept gunning the 'boys down. In Supe 14, his Steelers trailed 19-17 going into the fourth quarter. Had he been Favre, he'd have made at least one bone-headed, ill-advised mistake. Instead, he kept his cool, upped his game and took home a second consecutive Super Bowl MVP title. I take Bradshaw over Montana.

Pete| 2.8.10 @ 1:36PM

Solid analysis, GG. People discount Terry because he had a running game and a defense in addition to great WRs, not to mention the greatest coach in NFL history (only to win 4 Super Bowls). So his stats, aside from winning, will never match up with the Montanas or Mannings of the world and their pass oriented offenses, but I'd still take him any day.

I was actually severaly annoyed by the lack of running in the game last night...just doesn't seem like football when all people do is fling the ball around.

Allen Elkins| 2.8.10 @ 2:17PM

Without a doubt Wlady Pleszczynski is correct in his comments, and the others who just aren't Peyton Manning fans are wrong. Manning did deserve to lose after throwing an interception that was run back for a touchdown, but there are 10 other players on a football team. The Colts made some significant mistakes, while the Saints played near flawless football and they deserved to win. But Manning isn't finished yet by a long shot, and before he hangs up his football cleats he will own just about every record on the books for quarterback statistics. He already owns about half of them.

Cpm| 2.8.10 @ 2:20PM

While I didn't have a dog in the fight, all the Saints remind me of is my tax dollars at work.

Gabby Hayes| 2.8.10 @ 3:23PM

Boys, don't neglect to consider Troy Aikman in the very top echelon of the greats. He was a superb passer, game manager, and leader, with 3 rings that should've been 5, thanks to numbskull Barry Switzer. But for me, Montana is by far the greatest of them all. There never was and never will be anyone as great again.

Bart Rice| 2.9.10 @ 2:28AM

When I was a student at LSU, every year it looked like we would beat Ole Miss, and every year Archie Manning brought them back to win. He was really something. Then he went to the Saints, in the days the fans were putting bags over their heads. Every time Archie turned around, it seemed, someone hit him with a sledgehammer. Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw were great, but if Archie had their supporting casts you'd be remembering him along with them.
Because of my admiration for Archie's skills, I root for his sons.